Target: Blood
by Herald of Light
Summary: A parasitic race sets its sights on Enterprise and Earth. Will Enterprise and the two ships with it be able to stop the creation of a super race? Set in 2157. Archer and T'Pol are engaged.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own anything to do with the copyrights/trademark on Star Trek:Enterprise or, for that matter, any other Star Trek related series/movie/idea.

Herald of Light: Okay, this is actually a project that my girlfriend got my started on. I haven't posted them up until now (I've been working on them for about the last 3 months) because I couldn't get up the guts to do so. So enjoy and please Rate and Review. I also would like any special comments about anything as far as getting technical facts right. I only own season one of Enterprise, and have seen most of seasons three and four, so if I miss something, I'm sorry.

* * *

It had started as a normal day on board Enterprise. Captain Archer had woken up to Porthos' normal begging for cheese. T'Pol rose from the first sleep she had had in three days, rested and back to full strength. She had been taken double shifts since Archer, her beloved, had nearly been killed by the unknown cybernetic organism.

T'Pol decided to check in on him to make sure he was capable of duty. Phlox had told him that he wasn't to be on duty for another week after the surgery, but everyone knew how stubborn the Captain could be, and everyone trusted him with their lives for it. Enterprise had grown into a very tight family in the five years since they had been sent out to explore the galaxy for Earth. T'Pol was still finding herself amazed by humanity. They were light years behind her own people, but sometimes managed to do things that even they wouldn't think to do. What would Surak have to say about these illogical people?

T'Pol didn't care. Despite the fact that it was looked down on by her people to let their emotions show, she had begun within the last year to let little parts of her emotions out. A little smile here, a reassuring pat on the back to Jonathan, all in private of course, if the crew knew about it, it could get back to her people, and then she would be taken away from her family. While Starfleet expected this to happen on their ships, the Vulcan High Command didn't see it the same way. Vulcans were supposed to be independent of each other, making contact only with their closest family, or their betrothed ones. Her true family had been a long ways off when she had been on Earth for two years, and now, she was even further from them.

T'Pol stepped onto the turbolift. She punched in the destination for E-deck, closest to the Captain's quarters. Sick Bay was also on the way, so she would stop by and get Jonathan's daily shot to take to him. Phlox had no way to describe it other than "A remarkable inter-species connection." T'Pol had been able to help Jonathan heal faster than Phlox could have, and it wasn't just because of her being a Vulcan.

It was because they were engaged.

Coming out of Sick Bay, T'Pol walked by a repair hatch that lead to the Armory a deck below. She noticed that the cover was off, but thought little of it. Trip was trying to beat the Columbia's top speed of warp 5.4, and he was not to be outdone. Then it hit her, that particular hatch was only to be used if the Armory was flooded with radiation, or…

T'Pol started running, but it was too late. The explosion from the armory caused the ship to drop out of warp. T'Pol had managed to get to an emergency hatch and closed it just as the blast erupted. She was hurt, badly, but at least she wasn't being sucked into space.

On the Bridge

Captain Archer had decided to check in on the bridge. It had been two weeks since he had been there, and it was driving him crazy. He only had so many polo games on file that he could watch, and had caught up on his paperwork ages ago. Sure, he was on convalescence leave, but on a ship 300 light years from the nearest Earth colony, it was hard to do anything except work. Add to that the fact that he was a work-a-holic, then you had no way to keep him down.

Trip was on duty. Enterprise was on a course for an un-explored star system three light years away. The Vulcan's, according to their database, had earmarked the system as an interest do to the fact that they system seemed to have several planets within the habitable range from the star. But, they had never come back to look at the system, so Starfleet had decided it might be a good idea to have Enterprise check the system out. If the planets were uninhabited, the system may be good for colonies. They were a day out at their current speed of warp 4. Malcolm was at his station over at the Tactical console. T'Pol, the mother of the crew, was absent. "I'm going to have to remember to treat her for taking my duty shifts." Jonathan thought to himself. But just as the thought ended, he felt a surge of fear, it was from T'Pol. Their telepathic link was surging with this sudden fear, of death.

"I'm registering a massive power surge in the port torpedo tube!" Malcolm advised from his console. Since Archer wasn't allowed to take command, this was directed to Trip, at the Captain's seat in the center of the bridge. "Try to stop it! If you get an overload in there, half of the saucer section will blow up with it!" Trip ordered.

"Is there anyone near the Armory?" Archer couldn't help ask the question, it was hard not to take over, but even though he wasn't supposed to have been on the bridge (he had quietly snuck in), everyone immediately switched to having him in command.

"I'm registering T'Pol a deck above and…" Malcolm looked hard at Archer "….three people in the Armory, but their life signs indicate that they are unconscious."

"Try to minimalize the blast. Maybe if you…" Archer groaned as he sat down in the center seat. "…use the hull plating to divert some of that energy; we could at least save most of the ship."

"That's going to short out a lot of circuits, but it should work." Malcolm looked up from his console, after making the necessary adjustments. "It's working, but we are going to lose the Armory."

"Try to save them using the transporter, if you can't…." Archer knew that this wasn't going to be easy. The transporter could only handle three people, but there were four in the blast radius. But it was too late; the ship bucked like someone had just sucker punched them. The bridge went dark, only to have the emergency lighting come on. Slowly, the bridge started coming back to life. A screen would flicker on here, a console would beep. It took three minutes for the bridge to know just how bad the damage was.

Sick Bay

T'Pol was in her healing state. There was no way for Phlox to help her outside of this. The burns were just too devastating. Over eighty percent of her skin had been exposed the plasma from the blast. She would recover, but it could be weeks, even months before she would regain consciousness. If only there was another Vulcan on board with her blood type, things could go faster.

Archer, despite feeling the need to tend to the now wounded Enterprise, had been keeping 24 hour vigil on T'Pol. Phlox didn't have a problem with this, outside of the fact that if he even sneezed on her at this point, she could die from a resulting infection. So he had put her in a special chamber, but allowed Archer to sit right by her.

The ship itself was wounded, but would survive. The warp drive was completely shutdown by the blast, and would take another three days, on top of the four since the blast, to repair. The crew was in mourning for the death of the two brothers and one sister that were in the Armory at the time of the blast. The mess hall had been turned into a sanctuary, and all three of them were given their last rights and were wished well into the afterlife. Morale was low, but everyone knew how important it was not to let it affect what needed to be done now. They had to repair the ship, find out who did this, and stick it to them.

Archer, most of all, wanted to put his boot as far up their ass as it would reach. The crew knew where he was, and why. Despite trying, Archer and T'Pol couldn't hide the fact that they were in love. They had become the mother and father of the crew. If Archer had been seen anywhere else on the ship but Sick Bay, the crew would have immediately sent him there.

"Sir, I have something to tell you. It's about the blast." Archer looked up to see Malcolm. "The blast wasn't just from an overload, but a device was planted in the panel. We found a trace metal alloy that doesn't belong on our ship. Internal sensors don't show much out of the ordinary, and the last person in there was one of the three that were…" Malcolm stopped. He noticed that his Captain's eyes had glazed over. He had to be thinking the same thing he had when he had finished his inspection of the debris: Someone on board had done it. One of the family was a killer.

It took a minute before Archer looked up to Malcolm with a determined look in his face. He walked over to the comm panel and punched in the code for ship wide communication. "This is the Captain. I have just been informed that the blast that caused the deaths of three of us, and the injuring of my fiancée, " Archer stopped, mulled the thought over, and decided it was right. "was caused by someone that is on board this ship. We have evidence of a metal alloy being in the Armory that caused the explosion. If the person that did this is listening, you'd better pay attention. I will not stop until I find you, and when I do…you will pay." Archer pounded the panel, cracking it.

* * *

Herald of Light: I always wondered what Archer would be like really cheesed off, so I wrote it! Thanks for reading:D 


	2. Chapter 2

Admiral Forest had lost it when he was informed of the Enterprise's situation. The ship was on its own. Columbia, Enterprise's sister vessel, was at least a week away at its maximum warp of 5.3. The Vulcan's weren't listening to him, as usual. They could be able to transport the parts to repair Enterprise in two days, but relations between the two races had chilled as the talks for the new Interstellar Confederation neared. 

"They really need a better name for that." Forest thought to himself. It was hard to keep his mind off of Enterprise, so he lashed out at the first thing that came onto his screen. Unfortunately, it was an intelligence report that concerned the star system that Enterprise had been heading towards.

"Get me Captain Archer, NOW DAMNIT!"

* * *

Captain's Quarters, 0534 hours ship time 

"T'POL! NO!" Archer's eyes snapped open and he shot up out of bed. Porthos, sleeping at his feet, leapt up into the air, and fell to the floor. Archer looked around his quarters, remembered that Phlox had ordered him to get some rest, and had given him a sedative. "Sorry Porthos. I…just had a nightmare." Porthos looked up at him and just wagged his tail. Archer didn't understand why, but the little guy seemed to know what was going on. Man's best friend, must be part telepathic in order to achieve that, Archer thought.

"Captain." The comm panel buzzed. "Admiral Forest is on line, and he doesn't sound very….happy." Hoshi sounded scared. Hell, half the crew was, but there was something more on her mind. "Put him through to my quarters Hoshi, and don't worry, I'll handle him."

"Jonathan, I am so sorry about what's going on, but it looks like you aren't just going to be able to sit there and wait for Columbia for repairs. You need to keep moving towards that star system we had you going to." It was obvious that there was more behind this, because the Admiral was just barely holding back his tongue. Archer had learned the hard way what that look meant.

"Why is that Admiral? We are stuck on impulse for the next couple of days, and even then, our top speed won't be too good, maybe warp two." Archer was beginning to worry.

"I'm sending you the intelligence now. Jon, it seems the Vulcans have kept us in the dark more than you would think."

"What else is new…" Archer had begun to read the report. "Admiral, could you do me a favor?"

"What is that Jon?"

"Tell the Vulcan High Command that they are responsible for the deaths of three of my crewmembers, and that I expect them here within two days, otherwise I will make sure that this report goes to the families of my dead crewmen, and then, I will make sure that my friends in the press will also find a copy of this on their desks. I might even give the Andorians a call, depending on my mood."

"Jon, you can't do t—"

"LIKE HELL I CAN'T! THEY DIDN'T TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT WERE GETTING INTO! ALL THEY HAVE IN THEIR DATABASE ABOUT THE ICLARKU STAR SYSTEM IS THAT IT'S UNINHABITED, AND **THAT IS A LIE**!" Archer pounded the desk. Porthos, seeing that he was angry, whimpered and crawled under the bed.

"Ok Jon, you're right, I'll tell them."

"NO! I'll give you a better idea, play them this conversation, let them know that T'Pol was the only survivor of the blast, and she isn't likely to come around for the next few months. Let them know that my fiancée isn't going to be able to help me calm my emotions, or hold them back from lashing out at them."

"Jon…I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Admiral, I know it isn't what you expected of us, but this crew has become a family. And T'Pol and I, well, we just…"

"Don't worry. I understand, and I support you on this. It's about time that we start shaking the skeletons out of the Vulcan's closet, that is, if we are to keep continue co-operating."

"Archer out."

* * *

Inspection Pod, just outside Deck F, formerly the Armory. 1624 hours 

"Good God!" Trip was looking at the damage. Thankfully the torpedoes stored in the Armory hadn't gone off, keeping the blast isolated, but still, there was something not right about the blast. He pointed over to the edge of the hull that led down the corridor. "Malcolm, what does that look like to you? If the blast had been from the inside, shouldn't the hull be bent outward?"

"Hmm, yeah it should. That's weird." Malcolm took out his scanner and told Trip to get the air lock ready. "I'm going for a walk. Let's see if I can get a sample of the explosive."

"Hey guys, you need to get back to the shuttlebay, the captain wants us to get underway."

"Tell him that he needs to hold his horses, we may have found something." Trip shot back. Malcolm was now making his way to the edge of the hull, and he had pulled out his scanner and started sending back the readings. "We may not have the answers, but we may have just found some more questions. Malcolm, get a few more scans, then get back here."

"Hold on, I think I see a couple of torpedoes still intact. I'd recommend getting those out of here before we try moving. I'm moving towards them, and I will see if I can't get them to drift to the pod, it should be able to handle the weight, right?"

"It should, depending on how many there are."

"I see only four of them, two more I might be able to get the warheads from, but the propulsion units are gone."

"It must have been one hell of a blast; I don't get though how anything in the Armory could have done this. I mean we didn't have the warheads armed, and the torpedoes all have ion drives, so they wouldn't have been the cause." Trip maneuvered the pod so that it could receive the torpedoes. "Enterprise, Trip. Seems we have a few loose torpedoes. Were going to get them secured in the shuttlebay, and you should be able to get underway in about 10 minutes."

"Good job Trip. Tell Malcolm that he and you both get a steak dinner tonight." Archer motioned for the channel to close. At least they wouldn't be completely defenseless. Four working torpedoes and only one operating phase cannon, not much to use in a fight, but if what Admiral Forest said was right, that might not be the case for long.

* * *

Evidently something he had said had stirred not only the Vulcans, but the Andorians as well. Forest hadn't told him how, but his demand for help somehow managed to reach the Andorian ambassador, and from there, to his old friend Shran, who was now heading up a task force of six of the Andorian Imperial Fleets most advanced ships. The Vulcans had also contacted him directly, and said that they would be sending a task force of their own, with repair capabilities to replace their destroyed Armory. On top of repairing Enterprise, it seemed the Vulcans were finally removing the last of their restrictions on the transfer of technology to mankind. Enterprise was to have her engines revamped, raising her max speed to warp 6.5. Energy shielding was to be installed. 

All of this without a single catch. If it had come at any other time, Archer would have thought that they were trying to butter him up for a bit favor, but the way that Ambassador Suval had talked when he had called. Archer had never seen a Vulcan so….scared.

"What would make a Vulcan so scared?" He asked T'Pol, not expecting a response.

"I wouldn't know Captain, but I will tell you this, T'Pol is healing quicker than has ever been observed, even among Vulcans themselves. There is something about the two of you that is causing her body to want to heal itself. I can't put it any better than that, but all I know is that the further away you are, the less this effect becomes. I would almost ask you to move into Sick Bay, if not for our current problems." Phlox had been informed of everything so far. If anyone on this ship could be trusted, other than T'Pol, it was Phlox. There was always Chef, but he was so busy trying to feed the crew of 80, that he barely had time to talk.

"You know what, I think you are right."  
"I am?"

"I'm moving into Sick Bay for now. I bet the effect goes both ways. If I sleep by her side, maybe I won't have the nightmares."

"Anything is possible I suppose, but don't get your hopes too high. She is still weeks away from becoming conscious again."

"Just a couple days ago, that was months, so as I see it, that's all the hope I need."

* * *

Herald of Light: I have more, but I am getting tired, so it will have to wait until the next time I can get on the computer and post. ciao!


	3. Chapter 3

Herald of Light: This is a reposting of chapter three with a minor revision. Thing is...the part I had to fix is perfectly fine from my file, yet uploaded wrong...oh well. I will just have to keep a look out for this kind of thing in the future.

* * *

"This is the star system, Iclarkrau. It's about half again as large as your Sol. There are 13 planets in orbit, three gas giants, seven Minshara class planets, and the last three…" Soval zoomed into a layout of the system. "These three planets don't register on our scans."

"You've got to be joking." Malcolm chipped in. "We've seen ships appear and disappear out of thin…space, but planets?"

"Obviously you don't understand. We see them, but our scanners show empty space."

"Wait a minute….you've sent ships to this system?" Archer didn't like where this was turning. If Ambassador Soval was right, this system was a treasure trove, but maybe also a deathtrap.

"Sent, yes. Had return….no." Soval turned around and activated the screen behind him. "The only reason we know anything of the system is from the logs of the last ship that went in." He hit another button on the screen which started the playback of the last log entry.

"This is S'Tem, Captain of the P'res. I am the last remaining person on board, and I will soon not be. I am recording this last entry before I send the log buoy back out into open space.

We were dispatched to the Iclarkrau system in order to investigate the disappearance of the E'rul and the N'stal Vuk. Both ships had been ordered here to scout this system.

Since my last entry, I have tried to re-modify our warp-drive in order to attempt the escape of the third planet's field, but all my efforts have failed. Before he was killed by the entities, Science Officer T'purm managed to get a few scans which promised information on the creatures. They are humanoid, with basically a human physiology, with a distinct difference, all of them are anemic.

We have no defense against these…creatures. All attempts to use the ship's weapons against them, and our complement of hand phasers, have all resulted in only angering the creatures. It seems there is no way to stop them.

If this should get back to Vulcan, or if any other race should happen upon the buoy, you need to stay clear of the system, at all costs. S'Tem, out."

"Anemic, humph, now I see why my presence was requested at the meeting." Phlox stated.

"Could they be like the cybernetic organisms that we've run into a couple of times Captain?" Malcolm, who had laid upon himself the sole responsibility for not being able to reconfigure the weapons fast enough to protect the crew, didn't want that to happen again. For the first time, he had feared another being, not because they were going to kill him, but because he couldn't kill them.

"No, we could at least detect them, even with our sensors." Archer gave a menacing glance to Soval. He still didn't like him, but he was starting to redeem himself. Enterprise was docked with a mobile repair ship, and the Vulcan fleet had arrived with the Andorians but an hour away. Archer was beginning to feel safe, or at least, he was until this meeting.

Enterprise was to undergo massive improvement, thanks to the Vulcans. Her engines were being overhauled, the cannons were being improved to triple their output, and Malcolm was itching to start with his new toy, the shields.

"Captain, I understand you're….grudge, but this is not the time."

"Captain, if I may? I would like to present my findings now." Malcolm motioned for everyone to sit down; at least he could defuse one situation before he ignited another. "As you know, we found that the blast was inward, as shown by the bending of the hull. The device that was in the port tube was not of this ship. When I was out with Commander Tucker inspecting the damage, I took scans of the residue." Malcolm punched up his scans. "It seems that there is a mysterious substance that I didn't catch when I was scanning from the bridge. It doesn't register, like it was a black hole, but the scanner I used was modified from the time that we encountered the…organisms." Malcolm let the words set in, and then continued. "From what I was able to infer from the debris left over from the blast, the device where this unknown material came from was more of a beacon than a bomb."

"A beacon? For what?" Trip jumped in. Soval was looking confused, but none of the Enterprise's crew was giving him a thought. This was a family matter, and they weren't going to allow insiders in.

"It seems that the beacon served as a bulls-eye. Then whoever wanted to simple pointed, and started firing a discrete energy beam. I would expect that they wanted to blow up the armory in an attempt to disarm us so they could board, but they didn't expect us to dissipate the energy. Or the fact that I keep the warheads disarmed when we are cruising. But it would have taken an intricate knowledge of the Armory to know that that was the spot to put such a bulls-eye."

"How many people have that knowledge?" Archer and Trip both looked at each other as Soval butted his way into the conversation. Soval noticed and said "Captain, like it or not, I am here to help. I know that you have formed a distinct... connectionthroughout the crew and yourself. Even T'Pol has been in on this, and I—"

"You what? You think that I am stupid? You think that just because I am human means that I can't have feelings for a woman? Let alone a Vulcan woman? WHAT IS IT SOVAL? AM I SO DISGUSTING TO YOU THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BLAME ME FOR PUTTING HER IN THE CONDITION SHE IS!"

"Captain, I'm not. If you would have let me finish you would have heard that I respect what you have done."

For a split second, everyone in the room was silent. The questions zoomed among the crewman of the Enterprise. Was he expressing his true emotions, or was this a trick? Could he be trusted fully? Was their family about to grow?

"Then let's get to work on modifying the fleet's sensors. If we can manage an edge, then maybe we can go in with something those three ships didn't have, a chance."

* * *

Sick Bay, 3 days later, just on the edge of the Iclarkrau system

"I don't know what to do T'Pol. I really wish you were here. sigh I mean we have done all we can do to prepare ourselves." Archer looked down at his fiancée. She was definitely showing signs of healing. Phlox said that the already accelerated healing was going even faster, the Vulcan doctors, who had come in and looked at her, were even amazed. She was healing almost too fast. Phlox could only feed her so much before her body tried to expel the extra. Thankfully, the time until she regained consciousness had gone from weeks to days and now from hours to minutes.

Even though she would be awake, she would be far from recovered. At least she would be there to mentally reassure him.

The crew had taken quickly to the idea of having other ships around. The former spirit of doing everything on their own was now seen for what it was a dangerous notion. The crews of the eighteen ships in the fleet were traveling between each other, repairing, modifying, doing everything they could to get ready for the worst.

Though nobody knew exactly why the Vulcans were pushing having the weapons and defensive systems upgraded. On a small ship, the rumor traveled faster that maybe what they were dealing with were everything from a rebel element of the Suliban, to a colony of a parasitic race.

"Jon…..Jonathan." T'Pol's eyes flittered as she regained consciousness. Archer motioned for Phlox to come over and he began scanning T'Pol.

"Remarkable. She's progressing at a rapid rate. I would say Captain that our hypothesis was right, and she has healed faster because of you. Add to that the fact that you have been sleeping soundly for eight full hours a night for the last two weeks by her bedside, and I say you two are going to have a hard time being apart."

"You think we could have a little…alone time?"

"Oh, of course Captain. I can't open the case, her immune system hasn't been able to fully recover, but I can let you talk to her." Phlox closed the curtains.

"I've missed you so much dear." Archer said as he placed his hand on the glass casing. "I just realized what Prince Charming must have felt when he kissed Snow White." Archer chuckled to himself as T'Pol got a confused look on her face. "I'll have to tell you that one later. But I do have one thing to say, you look very cute when you are confused."


	4. Chapter 4

Herald of Light:  
Okay. Fourth chapter is up, and I am working hard on getting more done. I will try to post one ever few days until the story is done, but if this doesn't happen it is because I have become busy studying for tests or something like that (I am a college student after all) so don't worry, this story will get told!

* * *

"CAPTAIN! WE HAVE ANOTHER ENERGY BUILDUP!"

"Where is it?"

"Aft torpedo tube. If we have an explosion the same as what destroyed the Armory, the nacelles will be damaged, if not destroyed."

"I can't dissipate the energy….the hull isn't polarizing!"

"Captain….I'm…Sor---"

Captain Archer shot up in bed. Porthos, sitting on the edge of the bed was pushed off. This was the first night that he had slept back in his quarters in a while, and of course, he had had a nightmare.

It didn't make sense. He had lived the last twenty years without having them, but the last couple nights, despite sleeping near T'Pol, and then in his own bed they happened. The comm. panel chirped. "Yes?"

"It's Dr. Phlox. T'Pol is asking for you, she says that she can't get to sleep. I have removed her from the chamber; her immune system is back to normal. I would say that she could try going to the mess hall tomorrow under her own power if she wants to."

"Thanks Doc. I'll be there in a couple minutes." Archer turned off the panel, looked down to Porthos, "Looks like you are sleeping alone boy. I'm sorry." Porthos jumped up and started licking Archer on the cheek. "I know boy, but soon we won't be the only ones living in these quarters, you know?"

* * *

The crewman checked to make sure his room was empty, then keyed into the communications array, and pointed a signal to the designated coordinates.

"It isn't the designated time, why are you violating your orders?"

"I felt that the current situation needed to be addressed Master. T'Pol has woken up. The Vulcans and Andorians have arrived in force. They are modifying and strengthening Enterprise. Columbia is also coming, with additional reinforcements. I advise that we stop the mission."

"No, the plan will proceed. We cannot wait any longer. Humanity is the only species that would feed us fully. The Vulcans and Andorians are a danger, but we can easily take care of them. Plant devices on their ships as well."

"That might be a little hard for me sir. Archer is out on a headhunt trying to find me. If they get a good scan of me…"

"Don't worry, Enterprise will soon be under our control, and soon after Columbia, then…."

"I have to go! The comm. officer on duty is trying to get a message back to Earth, and I have the dish pointed the wrong direction!" The crewman shut off the comm. display, then erased the log entries for the subspace radio. There could be no evidence of the communication.

* * *

"Admiral Forest, how are things there on Earth?"

"They are getting pretty fuzzy Jon. It seems that someone has been abducting global leaders. Starfleet is having a hard time keeping everyone from starting a shooting war. We may need to call back Columbia in order to keep the peace."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"No Jon, there isn't. You just need to investigate that star system. Anyone that scares the hell out of both the Vulcans and Andorians won't like us too well either. I'm authorizing you to do anything necessary to protect not only your ship, but to protect the best interests of Earth."

"How far should I take that Admiral?"

"As far as it needs to be taken. Forest out."

* * *

"Malcolm, how are your new toys coming along?" Trip asked the exhausted Armory officer as he sat down to a slice of Pecan pie.

"These shields…they are wonderful devices. They are so simple, yet why we haven't found a way to make them I don't know. As far as the Armory itself, it should be finished within the hour. It seems the Vulcans have these little nanobots that are helping with the reconstruction. They are telling me that they are highly experimental, and shouldn't even have been considered to be used, but something sure has them scared enough to get past their thoughts on us. What about the warp drive? How fast can we go now?"

"You won't believe this. The simulations show that we could bump warp 7 now. But I don't get the feeling we will be getting to test that anytime soon. As far as powering things, it seems that we should be able to get all that we need from it. Your shields will be quite the energy hog, but we can handle it."

"Really? I wonder if you could also handle the phase disrupters that we came up with."

"Phase disrupters?"

"We blended our technology with that of the Vulcans and Andorians. It's more powerful than any other ships in either fleet. Our phase cannons are only a tenth as powerful"

"A tenth! I don't know if we can handle that!

"Well, you're going to have to; we just don't have the time to try to rework things any other way."

* * *

"Hey honey, how are you feeling?"

"I really wish you would stop being so emotional when I am in a weakened state. Our link fully transfers all of them to me, and I can't handle them right now." T'Pol took Archer's hand into her own. He seemed to calm down when she did that. This time though, something was wrong. There was something different about her mate. "Has something happened?"

"Nothing has happened, nothing that concerns you anyway." With that, Archer grinned and bared his teeth, revealing two fangs in place of his incisors. "Nothing that you will care about anymore."

T'Pol tried to resist as Archer moved to bite her on the neck, but she was still too weak. What was going on? Why had her beloved now act like he was going to suck her dry? What was the mythical creature that there were stories told about on Vulcan? A Ch'Lak?

T'Pol's eyes shot open as a hand touched her arm. It was Phlox. "Captain Archer is on his way. I'll make the other biobed up so you two can be alone, ok?" T'Pol simply nodded. Doctor Phlox had been very kind during this entire ordeal. It was against regulations for those who weren't sick to be in Sickbay when it was closed, but seeing as how close T'Pol and Archer were, Phlox didn't report the violations. She would have to remember that when she was making her list of people to thank on their wedding day.

Their wedding date was set for April 12. That was four and a half months away, but soon after the ceremony was over, she would move in with Archer and they would start the task of moving into a dual quarters, the first in the history of humanity. But then again, their marriage was going to be one of many firsts.

Archer shot in and immediately was at T'Pol's side. "What's wrong dear?"

"I had a…disturbing dream." T'Pol was weakened, but she was still able to keep her cool.

"Is it a side-effect of you not doing your meditations for so long?"

"No, the Vulcan healing state is even deeper than normal meditation, so I should be okay. There have been a few occasions where Vulcans have dreamed despite being at the highest levels of emotional control. Each time though, the dreams were of events that were about to happen."

"There have been instances of that happening on Earth as well. As a matter of fact, there was a very good instance of this when the King of Babylon had a dream about a giant statue made of gold, silver, iron, and clay. Only one man in the entire kingdom could interpret the dream though. What was your dream about dear?"

"I would rather not go into details, but I must ask you a question about your mythology, since I am not fully versed in your culture. Are there any mentions of a creature that drains the blood of a victim so that it may live?"  
"There are several mentions of that T'Pol. The chubracabra for instance, then there is Dracula, er, vampires."

"What are vampires?"

"Well, like you said, they would feed on people in order to solve a problem with their blood, they were anemic. Sometimes these people that were fed on were turned themselves. There seemed a master/slave order to things. If I remember right, there were a lot of movies devoted to them. Why do you ask?"

"There are tales of a similar creature on Vulcan, except that it was a small incident. Since our race doesn't have the same blood chemistry as yours, we weren't able to fulfill their need for iron. There was an invasion of these creatures onto a major colony. Only a few know of the incident, but my family passes the stories on, mainly to the children, as bedtime stories."

"Bedtime stories?"

"In order to get them to meditate, they would threaten that these creatures would attack them if they didn't."

"Remind me not to let you tuck in the kids, ok?"


	5. Chapter 5

Herald of Light: Okay, I thought that I would give everyone a little surprise and post a bonus chapter up. I'm also going to say that there really isn't going to be a crossover. The most there will be will be a name, but by the end of the next chapter you'll know which Enterprise member I am talking about, and by the end of chapter seven, you'll know just what I am talking about. He he, have fun until then :)

* * *

They were on the outskirts of the system now, and therefore running at about three-fourths impulse. It would be another day before they reached the inner planets of interest, but until then, the other seven Minshara class planets were being scanned for clues.

But that didn't help them at all. Archer glanced over to Soval across the table. He was calm, collected….typical Vulcan. "Why are you out here?" Archer asked. Soval just looked at him with a look Archer had learned from his father as the "What a stupid human question." look. "I mean….what do you think is in this system that has you so scared as to not only send us backup, but to just give us almost a hundred year's worth of improvements to our technology?"

For the first time that Archer knew of, he saw a Vulcan sigh. "Captain, we believe that what you call vampires are based in this system." Seeing Archer's look he continued. "Unlike what your mythology says, vampires are actually a race of humanoid creatures from this system. But we had thought that they would be only a nuisance, until we found out that your race had the proper blood chemistry to feed them, and to become them."

"So you are doing this for our protection? Doesn't that violate some Vulcan protocol?"

"It does, but we are also looking out for our best interests, as are the Andorians."

"We are here to help our friends. The fact that we may also protect the interests of the Andorian people is irrelevant." Shran stood up from the table. "Captain Archer has earned the respect of my government time and time again for his heroism and wisdom. We need more people like him out here, not more Vulcans."

"What are you implying Shran? That chaos is the way to rule?" Soval almost sounded angry.

"Now you listen here---"

"CHILDREN!" Archer yelled at the top of his lungs. He was tired of this. In a few months, these people were going to be sitting at a more important table, one that would shape how the next three hundred years would play out. He knew this from all of the experiences from traveling to the future with Crewman Daniels. "PLEASE!" Archer looked at the shocked faces of the people in the room. Only Trip had seen him fully angered before, and luckily it hadn't been pointed at him. Trip had laughed at the last person who had been the target of his friend's last anger burst. That poor guy had ended up with a broken arm and a bruised lung…and Archer had been half his size. Now all Trip could feel was sorry for the two people that had managed to catch him at just the wrong time to piss him off.

"Now you two still might have some hatred for each other, but I am going to ask only once that you lay that aside! I am in command of this fleet, so that means that you two are both under my command. So, unless you want me to order you to get along, I would recommend that you two would think twice about doing anything the old way. I have three letters yet to write to families back on Earth, and I don't know what to put in them!

Soval, you say that we are coming up to some kind of vampire homeworld. Shran, how did you hear about what was going on?"

"Let's just say that we have been trying to contact these people for a while, and as the Vulcans have, we have lost a couple of vessels that we have sent out here. And like the Vulcans, we had an invasion of our homeworld by these creatures. We have a chemistry that would support them, not as well as humans would, but as a last resort they could try. Fortunately we had a sufficient level of technology to eventually rid ourselves of these creatures. I brought with me all the information we had on fighting them."

"Why would you be trying to contact them instead of destroying them?" Soval looked at the Andorian with a slightly cocked eyebrow.

"We thought that anyone that was interested in destroying the Vulcans wasn't so bad, and…."

"And you were looking for someone to help you fight a war?" Archer shook his head. That was it, he was going to rip into these two, right here, right now. "You two stay here, everyone else GET OUT!" He pointed to the door as everyone jumped and dashed to it. Not that they were going to miss the fireworks show though. Hoshi and Malcolm leaned against the door to listen in.

A few seconds after they leaned against the door, it opened and an enraged captain barked "YOU TWO **OUT, or so help me I will shoot you two out an airlock!**"

Stunned. The two looked at each other. "So, want to grab a bite to eat Ensign? Better yet, why don't we go on a date?"

"Sounds great." With that, both dashed down the corridor to the turbolift, both praying that there would be something left of the poor two souls that were staring down the barrel of a very large caliber gun, the Captain.

* * *

This time, it was slower. The buildup started in the engineering section of two of the Vulcan ships, and the bridge of the lead Andorian vessel. It wasn't detected until it was too late. 

The three vessels all exploded at the same time. The resulting blasts managed to take out three additional vessels, and cripple the rest. Enterprise was the only ship not damaged, since she had been traveling above and ahead of the rest of the fleet.

"Doctor….I'd break out the spare bandages, cause we are going to have some problems."

* * *

They had stopped in orbit around the last Minshara class planet before the mysterious three inner planets would be encountered, and the surviving ships weren't in good shape. 

Two would be able to fly again. The rest were being cannibalized for parts, their decimated crews transferring to where they could find rooms. Enterprise was taking some of them on, filling already cramped quarters.

"Now we are forced to work together. You'd better get used to it, cause it is the only way we are going to work through this."

Both Soval and Shran were still on board Enterprise. They had taken their verbal lashing, and because of it both knew not to mess with Archer. Both now knew the full strength of a human who was pissed, and unfortunately, both thought,there were several billion more like him.

God help whoever pissed them off.

In the years since Enterprise had first ventured out into space, it had encountered more dangers and had come closer to death more than any one in either species histories. And somehow, Archer had not only kept the crew alive, but had formed them into a family.


	6. Chapter 6

Herald: Okay, chapter 6, and I have 7 reviews and over 700 hits. I am very pleased. I am probably going to change the rating after I wrote one of the future chapters which has a very very vulgar scene between Admiral Forest and Earth's world leaders (feel good, my girlfriend hasn't even read the newest chapter yet, and I am giving a sneak peek!). Let's just say that by the end of the story, I not only hope to have your jaws on the ground, but answer a question that has bugged me ever since I saw the first season of Star Trek: TNG. Oh, wait, spoiling the future, aren't I?

* * *

"Honey, are you sure you want to do this? I mean you just got released from Sickbay…"

"Shut up and kiss me." T'Pol puller her fiancée to her and kissed him long and hard. He had missed being around her.

"Porthos….I'd find some cover if I were you….this could get ugly." Archer looked over at his dog, who had been watching, but seeing the scene now, he ran off into the shower room. "I'd see if you couldn't get into the closet bud, cause I get the feeling that the shower will be used as well." Porthos stuck his head from the shower, and whimpered.

T'Pol, now having come out of the last few weeks of healing, had been warned by both Phlox and the Vulcan doctors that they didn't know what the side effects would be. Though from the way she was acting know, Archer could only hope that she hadn't become crazy with passion….well, not too much anyway.

Had it only been a couple of months ago that Archer had to save her life from the….situation that had befallen her? Pon farr was really something to contend with. Either have sex, or die. Thank goodness it never happened like that on earth, or humanity may not have survived past the caveman days. Archer had just proposed the week before it had happened, so technically they bonded a week after he asked her. She had explained that they were already married according to Vulcan tradition, since they had mentally bonded, but she wanted to marry him by human traditions as well.

He didn't have much time to think about that. T'Pol tore off his uniform in a simple motion. Then picked him up and threw him down on the bed and started biting him, hard on the shoulder. Archer didn't know if he had fully recovered from what all she had done to him the last time, but he was soon going to find out. He tried to reach up to turn off the comm. panel but just as his hand hit the switch, Hoshi's voice came over the system, "Captain, we're being hailed. The signal seems to be coming from where the third planet is supposed to be. Ambassador Soval is on his way to the bridge and requests that you come up as well."

"Umm Hoshi, I'll try, but I am a little……………." Archer looked down at T'Pol, who had mysteriously stopped her assault. She was sound asleep on his chest. Blood oozed from a small gash on his right shoulder. That's going to leave one hell of a hickey behind. He thought to himself. He tried to move off the bed, but found that her arms were firmly clamped around him. Archer cussed at himself for not working out more often. Vulcans lived in a higher gravity, and were naturally stronger than humans. He didn't know how he could get her off. "….preoccupied. Could you send Dr. Phlox to my quarters, I'll be up there when I can. Tell Soval that I just couldn't be torn away from my…..personal matters." Archer heard Hoshi chuckle at the comment.

"Yes Captain. Should he handle the talks until you get up here?"

"Please, but keep a transcript for me."

"Aye Sir."

He clicked off the comm. panel. T'Pol was so peaceful looking. There was something about her that set her apart from the rest of the Vulcans. She showed more emotion than them, but just like the rest of them, said that she didn't. Their destinies had for some reason become intertwined with the mission to return Klang back to the Klingon Empire, and he thanked God every day for that.

The door chimed. "Come in Doc." Archer said, letting the computer know that it was okay for Phlox to come in despite the lock. Phlox just took one look at was going on, and chuckled. "I see you didn't waste any time Captain. I thought I told you two to take it easy."

"You think that I jumped her? laugh Doc, you have it all wrong, she jumped me. One second she is darn near starting to suck the blood out of me, the next, she is out like this, arms clamped around me."

"Hmm, let me see what's going on." Phlox took out a scanner and ran it over T'Pol. "It seems that her hormones are highly abnormal. They resemble a human female's more than a Vulcan's. I can only think that it would be a side-effect of the exposure to you during her healing. It could correct herself, or it could be permanent. It won't be damaging to her system, so long as the levels of estrogen don't rise any more." He took out a hypospray from his bag and put it to T'Pol's neck. "This should help her sleep, and allow you to budge out of her grip. You might want to come to sick bay at some point and let me run an in-depth scan on you to make sure you aren't having any side effects."

"Thanks." Archer grunted as he managed to make enough room for him to wiggle out. "Can I ask you a favor? Could you stay here and watch her for me?"

"I could, but there are many critical cases that do need tending to…" Phlox was speaking as a doctor should, but his family concerns were also heavily weighing on his mind.

"It's ok. I should have remembered that. Trip should be off duty, so I can ask him to come in. Go make sure that no one else has to die. Oh, and Doc?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for the help, and I would like you to look into the Earth historical files and become real familiar with vampires. See if you could devise any way to defend ourselves from a creature that is anemic." Archer finished putting on a new uniform, and then guided Phlox to the door. "I hate to do it, but I am going to get paranoid and say that the Vulcans may be right."

"Okay Captain." Phlox nodded and left the quarters. When the door shut, Archer touched the comm. panel "Archer to Trip."

"Aye Captain?" Trip's groggy voice came over the speaker.

"Can I ask a favor?"

* * *

"Sorry I'm late, but I couldn't find a babysitter. Seems that everyone is either tired, or…." Archer caught himself as he walked onto the bridge. On screen was an image almost from an old horror movie. 

She looked almost completely human. That is, if you think that elongated fangs and pale skin along with red pupils was normal.

"Ah, Captain Jonathan Archer…how good to finally meet you." She said with the airy voice that seemed to be calling him. "We've been wanting to get a hold of you for quite some time…."

* * *

"JON!" T'Pol jumped out of bed and went to the shower room. He wasn't there. Trip was on the couch, but other than him, there was no one else in the room. 

"Hey…nice to see you up and around." Trip groggily amused himself.

"Where is Jon? Where is my fiancée?" T'Pol rushed over to Trip and grabbed him by the shoulders and picked him up out of bed. "Tell me, or I will squeeze."

"Okay, hold your horses. We were hailed by someone, I was off duty, so I don't know who, but Jon needed someone to watch over you, so he called me." Trip grunted as the pressure that T'Pol put on his shoulders was starting to hurt. "Now could you please stop?"

"So he is on the bridge then?"

"Yes."

"Then it may be too late for me to stop them from controlling the crew."

"What? T'Pol, what are you talking about? Who's going to control the crew?"

"Your culture calls them vampires."

"You mean we ran into some space vampires?"

"No, we have found the vampire homeworlds. A place my family has been looking to find for the last thousand years."

"T'Pol, what are you meaning by that?"

"My family was the one that repelled the invasion of Vulcan by these vampires. It has since been passed down to each generation in case they should return, or we find their home."

"Funny you mention that……" Trip looked deep into her eyes. "….as long as were telling confessions on family history…"

* * *

Herald: Okay this chapter really doesn't make much progress in the story, but I think that it does set the stage for a good portion of the storyline. It is also a kind of comic relief. Think of it as the calm before the storm. I'm currently writing several chapters ahead, and I am going to keep releasing a chapter every couple of days, unless I get a certain amount of reviews...I could be persuaded...Anyway I'm really enjoying writing some of the future chapters, and I'll give one more sneak peek, but it will have to be in a quote from Albert Einstein, which is used in the future chapter:

_"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."_

Please Rate and review!


	7. Chapter 7

Herald of Light: Okay, I'm sorry I am late, but I had a long week, and I just collapsed Friday when I came home. I changed the ratingon the story, and I am sorry if that means that some people won't be able to view it, but when I wrote one of the later chapters, I realized just how violent and mouthy this story is going to get when I had Admiral Forest royally rip a group of people ( I think the final count on the f-bomb was was five times in link two sentences. That also doesn't count a few others. But anyway, that isn't until chapter 11 (yes, I have written that far, I haven't posted all of them because I still am proofreading them).

I'm going to continue posting about every two-three days, or when I get about 150 hits (whichever I feel is best).

Make sure to pay attention to the Doctor's report later in the chapter. If you really think about it, you could probably predict the end of the story, but then again, I doubt that there is enough there yet to give it away, but I'm sure there are enough smart people out there to put it together:)

* * *

Phaser fire flew across the bridge. T'Pol and Trip dashed through the turbolift door and stunned the bridge crew, before the vampress on the screen could try to put them under her control, T'Pol cut the transmission.

"Let's get the crew back up. I'll start with the Captain." Trip moved over to Archer and touched a hypospray to his neck.

"What the hell are you doing?" Archer growled at his best friend.

"Just saving your ass, like usual." Trip grinned. "We need to have a long chat before we deal with these people again."

"And why is that?"

"Because they have a spy on board Enterprise."

"How do you know that?"

"Because my family has been tracking his butt as long as he has been a sympathizer for the suckers."

"Your family? Trip, as far as I knew, your family has been from the southern part of the North American continent for the last four hundred years."

"That's true captain, but before that, our family name was Van Helsing."

"Van Helsing?"

"Yep, just like the movie."

"Captain, I have the location of the sympathizer." T'Pol looked up from the Internal Sensor display to his right. "He is in Engineering."

"Close off that section. Trip, come on. It's time that I get a little explanation for this." Archer went into his ready room and returned with a hand phaser. "Let's go."

"Remember, we want him alive. At least it would help us to find out what they would want." T'Pol shook her head, as though she wasn't able to think straight. Seeing his concerned look she nodded and said "It's the side effects from the accelerated healing. It would seem that my body is trying to become more human. I doubt though that it will succeed."

"Wake the rest of the bridge crew, then get your butt down to Phlox and have him run a scan on you." Archer said as the turbolift closed.

"Yes beloved." Archer heard her voice echo in his mind. It was accompanied with her emotions. She was concerned about him, but she knew that he wouldn't die. It almost seemed like the universe had a purpose for him that wouldn't let him die. She also loved him deeply. He smiled to himself.

"Something funny Captain?"

"No Trip. Just something that you'll understand maybe if you are lucky enough to find the right woman."

"Oh. Well, here we go. Deck E"

"Phasers to Stun." Archer retooled his weapon. The door opened to the corridor just outside Engineering. They worked their way down the corridor. Malcolm's MACO squad was on their way, but it would be a couple of minutes before they would arrive. Archer decided that that was too long. A couple of minutes and the sympathizer could overload the engines. "If they move, shoot. We'll sort it out later, okay Trip?"

"Aye Captain." Trip went to the other side of the door and put his hand on the door panel. He nodded to Jon and then keyed it to open.

Engineering was business as usual. Except for the fact that half the crewman were down on the floor, unconscious. Archer motioned for Trip to take the right side of the warp drive, he would take the left. As both began moving to either side, T'Pol came over their link.

_"Jon, the sympathizer hasn't moved in the last minute. He is about three feet head of you and above. He may be unconscious."_

_"A lot of the Engineering duty crew is unconscious, any reason why that might be?"_

_"I had Lt. Reed flood engineering with cyclopropane__. Since it is highly flammable, I had him remove it soon after."_

Archer sighed then called to Trip. "It's okay; they flooded the room with knock-out gas before we got here."  
"How'd you know---" Trip answered his own question. Even though Jon and T'Pol were considered the mother and father of the crew, no one had gotten used to them having a link that they could talk on at any time. Might be nice to have, but then again, no private thoughts, that could stink. Trip told himself.

He had had a thing for T'Pol once. But he had moved on. Ever since he had been impregnated by that Xyrillian, he just hadn't liked the idea of getting into a relationship that was that……demanding. Sure it wasn't something that he should worry about, but he still hadn't gotten used to any idea of .

"Here he is. Pass up the scanner." T'Pol had guided him to this crewman because of a signal that was being emitted from him.

Archer ran the scanner over the crewman's body. He was human, for the most part. There was a slight deviation in his blood's hemoglobin count, but that wasn't unusual for most people living in space. He would have Phlox run a more through scan to be sure though.

Phlox rushed into engineering and came to the captain's side. "Captain, I think I've found something, but I can't be sure unless I have a blood sample."

At this moment, the crewman's eyes shot open. Seeing Archer right in front of him made him hungry. He reached up and grabbed Archer's neck and pulled himself up in order to start feeding. Archer had enough time to pull out his phase pistol and hit him on the head with it, freeing himself of the vampire's grip. Phlox jammed a hypospray onto his neck and emptied the sedative into his system. It didn't work.

The vampire got up and jumped down onto the lower part of engineering. Archer got up and shot several shots at him. Three hit, but didn't even affect him. Archer didn't want to, but he keyed the pistol to the kill setting. But before he could fire, the MACO's arrived. They had phase rifles which were all leveled at the vampire. It took a total of twenty blasts from the five MACO's before he went down.

"Let's get him into sick bay, NOW!" Archer and Phlox said in unison.

"Trip, check the engines, make sure we have warp capability."

"Aye, Captain. Why? Are you worried about being able to escape?"

"Just call it a bad feeling Trip. Something that you wouldn't like."

* * *

Back on Earth

Admiral Forrest put down the pad with the list of abducted leaders. Enterprise had been out of subspace radio contact for the last six hours. Add to this the skirmishes that had erupted among the Earth's nations, and you had the formula for a very bad day.

"Any results on trying to get Captain Archer?" Forrest said into his intercom.

"No sir. Captain Hernandez of the Columbia asked if she could go investigate."

"Tell her that she needs to get back here ASAP. The situation is getting worse." He brought up the news feed on his private viewscreen. It showed reports of the Arab Coalition attacking the Jewish state of Israel. While there had always been tensions, shots hadn't been fired between the two for the last thirty years. Peace had been reached, until now.

* * *

"His body is remarkably similar to a human's, but there are still some differences," Phlox motioned to the screen above the bioscanner chamber, "his dental roots suggest that his incisors were altered in order not to appear long. His digestive system was also altered, and his skin was actually a graft. It seems that he has a biomechanical suit built onto his outer skin. His blood," he picked up a vial and passed it around the room. "is anemic, and has another feature." He moved over to the scanner's screen again and zoomed in. "His blood is full of nanobots, which actively defeat our passive scans. Only when I used the adaptations that Lt. Reed found when we fought off the cybernetic organisms," Phlox paused as the Captain winced. "was I able to defeat their actions. But they are far less advanced than those other organisms."

"Have you found any way to harm them?"

"Yes. It seems that they are extremely vulnerable to UV light."

"Any way we could use that?"

"It would be possible to rework the phase pistols to fire on the UV wavelength. That would definitely beat what we are doing now." Malcolm looked like his ego was bruised. He took it as his duty was to defend the ship, and this person had slipped right past him.

The ship shuddered and the power flickered. "Captain, we're under attack."

"Take us to warp, now."

"Where to?"

"Take us home Ensign, all possible speed."

* * *

cyclopropane is an actual chemical and is accuratly fitted into the story

Herald: Okay, see you in a couple of days!


	8. Chapter 8

Herald of Light: Oooookkkkaaaayyyy...After seeing a hugh drop in the rate of hits, I've decided to bring the story back down to T, and go through and censor the nice little conversation Forest has with the World Leaders. But when I do post it, if anyone wants the uncensord version, I could email it to them if the wanted, or post it separately...not quite sure yet what to do on that.

I have also been working on the battle that will be coming in about chapter 12 or 13. But when I do any battle scene it takes me a little longer to write, because I try to visualize it and do what the 'real' person would do in that position. But I am starting tonight, and hopefully will have 12 done within a week and 13 done not that long after (I usually just write the whole battle out in one sitting, that way, it's done). I may have a chapter or two after that, tying up the loose ends, maybe a wedding chapter, though I don't think I could do the honeymoon without raising the rating again... but that pretty much sums up how much there is left to this story.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Two Days Later

The last 48 hours had been hell. The attack had occurred while the new shields were down, but thankfully the hull plating had been polarized ever since entering the system. Most of the damage was to communications and Hoshi was well on her way to having that taken care of. Archer hadn't been to bed in what seemed like ages. In fact it had been nearly 72 hours since he had last laid down to rest.

The other two vessels had been sent to their respective homeworlds. Evidently the vampire they now had confined in the Decontamination Cell in Sick Bay had been 'persuaded' to talk by Phlox and Malcolm. Archer didn't care what they had done, because what they found out was too important for him to care.

His home was on the menu.

Earth was to be the first planet that these people would consume. It seemed that their entire civilization was like him, vampires. The other planets in the system had had carbon-based life-forms, but all of them had evolved beyond their likes. They had been cloning the last of these species for the last hundred years, with this supply keeping only a small portion of their people alive as they tried to find a new supply of food. They way he put it, it was like they were starving, and Archer almost felt sorry.

Almost.

Once Earth was overtaken, her colonies would also be targeted. The Andorians would be taken next. It seems that someone from the Temporal Cold War had also visited them, and provided them with the directions to both Earth and Andoria Prime, though he wasn't able to provide how precise that intelligence was.

If there was temporal contamination, then these people should have no right to exist, right? Admiral Forest had told him to do anything in order to get the job done. Did that mean he should try to destroy? Commit genocide? Or would it be setting nature's balance straight?

There was an armada following them. They were only capable of Warp 5, but they wouldn't have been detected unless Archer hadn't ordered that the quantum beacons still attached to the grappler activated. It was a primitive cloak, according to T'Pol, but still enough to hide the most important information from them, their weapons capabilities.

Earth had been building defense forces since the Xindi were trying to invade. So far, there were three squadrons of five man fighters. They really were nothing more than a standard impulse engine, three phaser turrets and at best (Archer prayed) a basic hull-plating system. There weren't even transporters on board them, and they were designed only with enough fuel and provisions to last five men three days. Thankfully there was also a carrier for them, though he wasn't even supposed to know about that, since it was Admiral Forest's pet project.

There were also several defense platforms, along with the newly remodeled Verteron Array on Mars. Although it was supposed to redirect comets, when the Terra Prime terrorist group had taken it over and used it on Enterprise, its use as a weapon had become clear. It would not have that many shots, but if they could warn them….it might save them all.

"Captain. You need to look at this." Malcolm called from his console. Archer looked up from his thoughts, he moved over to his Armory officer's console to get a better look as he explained. "Those ships haven't moved captain."

Archer looked up at this. "What do you mean 'they haven't moved'? Were moving at Warp six, their moving at Warp five, there is a discrepancy in our favor there. They should almost be out of our sensor range by now."

"That's the thing sir, they aren't. In fact, they are keeping up with us. They are exactly 5 light years away. There's something else." Malcolm punched up a better view of three of the ships. "This is only a small portion of the fleet...notice anything?"

"I don't notice anything, what am I missing? What weakness have you found?"

"None sir, look down at the time index though."

Archer took a second to process what had just been revealed to him. At best, they could have a hope of still getting to Earth in time. At worst…..

"Arm the forward phase disruptors. Fire at random on my mark. Ensign Mayweather, take us out of warp."

Malcolm kept his eyes glued to the sensor screen on his console as they dropped out of warp, if he was wrong, then they were going to know it soon.

"Raise shields. Any change Malcolm?"

"No sir, they're static."

"Good. FIRE!"

From underneath the saucer, the two modified phase cannon pods dropped out of their bays and locked onto their target. A second later there was a blast of green light as the phase disruptors were fired. And impacted ceased ahead of them, a kilometer off their bow.

The result was amazing.

The space around them fizzled, and then went out of existence.

"What the hell?"

Ahead of them was a giant hole into space, but all around him was a caveronous white room, and behind him were the other two ships.

"Captain. Shran would like to know what's going on?"

"Tell him I don't know, and I don't want to find out. Take us out through that hole Ensign."

"Aye sir."

"But that would be against my orders." She appeared on the bridge, flickering into existence. "Wouldn't it, my slave?"

"Yes, Master." Archer, along with the bridge crew, minus T'Pol who was still recovering from her hormones, said in unison.

The Vampress Alucardia moved forward. She could barely hold back her desire to feed. Her people were starving, and she was chief among them. Now to be in the presence of so much blood, and not even trying a little…

"You," she pointed. "come here so I may feed."

"Take me so you may be strong my Queen."


	9. Chapter 9

Herald of Light: This chapter actually is chapters 9 and 10 in my personal files.But since together they are about as long as some of the other chapters in this story, I made the decision to combine them and just rework things.

Also, I have a question for everyone. What is everyone's opinion on language and ratings? I mean, Where do I draw the line and up the rating? If anyone has some advice, I would really appriciate it, because I am finding it hard to tone down Admiral Forest's rant next chapter.

* * *

"THE DEFENSE CODE TO DEACTIVATE THE VERTERON ARRAY, WHAT IS IT?" Captain Archer stared into the void as his hypnotized mind tried to find the answer. "I've never been told that." 

"Remember…." She lowered her face to within inches of his in order to strengthen her power. Something was keeping the code from her. Was the Vulcan still alive? The poison her operative should've injected her with by now should have neutralized her.

That's too many variables. She thought to herself.

"Is T'Pol still alive?" She whispered these words into his ear, being so close to him as to have the peak of her power on him. She could smell the blood running through him, and it made her thirst for his blood. But she had already feasted on the young ensign that manned the science station. She had to preserve as much of humanity so her species could live.

It had been forever since she had made a fresh kill. She'd savored the woman's blood as it flowed down her throat. It hadn't cured her thirst, she cold have drained all 80 humans aboard Enterprise, but she would have a buffet soon enough.

When Earth was conquered.

* * *

"How much longer?" T'Pol asked the figure standing beside her as she anxiously tapped her foot. 

"Hold your horses, Sub-Commander. We need to let them think that they have control of the entire ship. We'll stay here in the Armory for another five minutes. That should be enough. Then we'll take back the ship."

"If my fiancée is in the least way harmed….." T'Pol gave Trip a look that could kill.

"Hey, I won't get between you and that vampress, wipe her butt all over the ship if you want." He stared her in the eye. "But stay the hell away from my warp drive!"

T'Pol couldn't help but laugh. The feeling was indeed new to her, but she actually was enjoying being able to show some emotions.

The one emotion that Trip knew she was experiencing but that she wouldn't confirm was fear.

Back on Earth

The situation had all but gone sour on Earth. The peace that the last fifty years had enjoyed was now gone as the nations began fighting each other. Since most weapons were banned to everyone except StarFleet and to farmers, this made Albert Einstein's quote on World War IV would be like:

_"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."_

World War III had been fought with nuclear weapons and primitive antimatter weapons. And since the treaty that united the world banned all weapons except for defense the nations were literally fulfilling Einstein's theory.

"How many will die this time?" Admiral Forest shook his head as watched his view screen's news feed. Riots had broken out between different ethnic groups in cities all over the world as accusations flew as to who abducted all the world leaders.

The world, now fractured, left Admiral Forest in charge of StarFleet, and the off world operations of the colonies and ships. Thankfully, these were completely disconnected from the government of Earth, and while the general feeling of the citizens was tense, rioting hadn't even been thought of.

"Fifty-four hours………" Forest mused to himself as he thought about Enterprise, Archer, and how all this started to happen soon after the explosion on board. "There couldn't be a relation….?" He lifted his head and was about to dismiss it, but at the last second, he remembered that Archer always made at least some form of contact every 12 hours.

He hadn't since the last time he talked to him. "Get me Columbia." He said into his intercom.

"Okay, NOW!"

Trip dashed down the corridor firing his phase pistols at anything that moved. This was the seventh corridor they had gone down, and he had stunned at least a third of the crew's compliment, along with a few others. Thankfully all the crewman would have after this would be a bad sunburn, as for the others, well, they weren't so lucky. Piles of dust littered Decks E and D.

"This is taking too long. We need to get to the bridge." T'Pol said when she came up the now cleared corridor.

"That's easier said than done. There is a turbolift up ahead, but" he slipped back the polished knife into his boot. "there are at least ten people waiting for it, none of them particularly friendly. What's worse…" He popped open the pistols and dumped the batteries. "I'm out of juice."

"What would you humans do without us Vulcans?" T'Pol pulled a battery from her pocket and handed it to him.

"I'd do better if you had another one." Trip's head was pushed away and he heard a zipper.

"If you must…." Another batter was placed in his hand.

"Um…thanks. I think we will need to talk to the captain later about what you hide under that uniform. It's downright scary."

"How little you know…" T'Pol said and moved into position. "Let's go!"

……………………………..

Back on the Bridge

"Madam, it seems that some of the crew are out of your control."

"WHAT!" The vampress flung the poor vampire warrior across the bridge, slamming him through the turbolift's door. "Where are they?"

"I don't know for sure, but we have lost contact with the lower decks."

"Fine. It seems I can't use this one anymore." She waved her hand to Archer, who lay on the deck. "Rig the charges we brought, blow up this ship!"

"But…" he motioned to the now unconscious crew, yearning for sustenance.

"There will be time for that later, now RIG THOSE CHARGES BEFORE I GET ANGRY!"

….Lunar City…That same time

"Admiral Forest, what brings you here?" The governor of the Lunar Colony rose out of his seat to shake his superior's hand.

"The bad news on Earth brings me here. Look I have a favor to ask, can I borrow a subspace radio for a few minutes?"

"Of course, you're the one that gave us the things."

"Good…." Forest looked down at his uniform. The next thing he was going to ask about was the hardest thing he had ever done in his career, and could change human history if it became permanent.

….Back on board Enterprise…

"Captain, wake up." T'Pol slapped Jon across the face.

"OW!" Archer shot up. "What the hell was that for?"

"Well, kissing you didn't work, so I had to use another stimulant." T'Pol grinned.

"….You just smiled."

"Something wrong with that?"

"No, just…just it's so pretty."

"I hate to interrupt you two, but we have a problem." The now revived Lt. Reed looked up from his console. "There are five explosive devices throughout the ship. One on each deck. In fact…the first one is on the back of your chair Captain."

T'Pol swung the center seat around. "I'm not familiar with this, any chance we could use the transporter?"

"I suppose so. I'll go down and have a look."

"After we get that done, take us out of here, with all possible haste Mr. Mayweather."

"Yes, sir. Where to?"

"Home. We have to warn home of the dark clouds coming."

"Why couldn't we just use the subspace radio to do that?

"At this distance, it would be two days before a message would get to them. Besides—"

"Long-range communications are beyond hope of repair. Same thing on board the other two ships."

"Okay let's go people!" Archer clapped his hands together to emphasize the fact. "T'Pol, go have Phlox examine you. I'd hate to have you fall apart on us because of something that we can catch now." T'Pol nodded and moved to the turbolift. She understood what he meant. She was surprised herself at smiling. The hormones must be really going through a loop."

……..

"Attention all of Earth and her colonies.

Due to the recent events on Earth concerning the declarations of hostilities due to the disappearances of world leaders, and the falling apart of peaceful relations, I am calling all Starfleet personnel and their families to the Moon or the closest colony.

Until such time that peace is restored on Earth, Starfleet will not recognize orders from any Earth government. Also, unless peace is restored soon, I will order Starfleet ships to stop and search any and all incoming vessels, and those vessels which are carrying weapons or materials to make weapons will be detained and not allowed to transport their cargo. If this still does not work, further measure including a full blockade will be on the table…."

As Admiral Forest continued his speech, he knew that what he was doing was comparible to mutiny or a coup de'tat, but he needed to do it in order to provide security to at least a majority of mankind. That was his sworn duty.

And he would uphold his duty. No matter what the cost.

* * *

Herald: Sorry I haven't updated lately. I have been very busy with classes, and haven't had much time to write. I haven't forgotten about this story, but I hope to get it done soon. I will post another chapter soon to even things out a little. Though I would like someone to go over it and make sure it's okay for this rating. Just to be safe, thanks :) 


	10. Chapter 10

Herald of Light: After a long hiatus (caused by many things, included my breakup with my now ex-girlfriend), I'm going to try to finish this story before I go bact to college. I have a few chapters ahead, but I am going to look over them and see if there is anything that needs to be changed. I still remember everything I had in store for this story, so there won't be too much damage done to my ending by this long abscence.

Thanks to everyone for being so patient. And a special thanks to those who recently reviewed this story and brought it back to my attention. If they hadn't...well...it could have been a lot longer until this story got finished.

* * *

"Captain, I don't know how much longer the engines can hold this. And the engines are the least of my worries, the hull was never designed for the pressures of traveling over warp seven, and those pressures were just theoretical!" Trip was sounding very concerned, and aptly so. Enterprise was running flat out to try and get back to Earth in time. Which meant that she was doing warp 7.8 and trying to get more every second.

Right behind her was a fleet of ten ships, all as powerful as Enterprise had been at the start of this mission. If she had not been retrofitted by the Vulcans, and if Archer and his crew hadn't beaten back the attempts to get at them, that fleet could have done it. Sure, ten ships, but that didn't matter when you considered what they would do once they reached a ship without shields, like most Earth vessels were without.

They would simply board and turn the ship against the others.

Enterprise was the only human vessel equipped for the fight. Archer wanted to turn around and fight, but he couldn't, because he had to get back to Earth and warn the Admiral, maybe then they would have their internal security ready to repel the invaders. Once he got that message off, he would turn his father's ship around and give them hell. Everyone that was on board, his crew, the Vulcan and Andorian evacuees, all of them were at a station that needed help. Everyone was at a post keeping Enterprise ready for the fight to come.

"How much longer?" Archer looked down to the helm as though if he were sitting there he could will his ship to go faster.

"Three hours at this speed to reach Xena station, but we can only hold it for an hour and a half." Mayweather knew what that meant; they were going to be fighting just outside of their own solar system.

"Will that be close enough to send a message?" Archer peered over at Ensign Hoshi who was trying to rewire the entire communications system. Panels and wires were strung out over half of her and throughout all of the science station.

"I don't know Captain. Whatever they did to our long-range comms, it was through. What's worse though is that it's the same problem on all three ships. Long-range is gone, but intra-ship is just fine."

Something struck Archer, "How about the sub-space relay buoys? I still think we have one left over from that mission, don't we?"

Hoshi looked over at him, picked up her PADD and punched in her inventory of the communications equipment. There it was, at the bottom of the list in the items that needed to be jettisoned when they reached a trash point. "We have it, but its one that didn't work when we deployed it."

"What if it was repaired, do you think it would work?"  
"Not long it wouldn't." Hoshi tried to compute the times and distances needed for it. "But if I could get it to send the message for maybe three seconds, that would work."

"I have an idea that would be even better. My vessel has high-velocity probes capable of warp 8, what if we attached your relay buoy to our probe?" Soval appeared from the turbolift in one of Enterprise's uniforms and holding a case full of modified phase pistols.

"Now were getting somewhere." Archer looked to Shran on the viewscreen to see if he had anything to put into the conversation.

"How about I cause some ruckus so you two can get the materials needed to get your plan together?" He ventured.

"That's suicide!" Soval exclaimed from beside Archer as he handed him a pistol. "Don't you Andorians ever use logic in a fight?"

"Don't you Vulcans ever use common sense? Here let me break it down so even a child could understand. You can't transport either piece of equipment at this high velocity, which means to get your probe" He motioned to Soval "and your buoy" he motioned to Archer "together you are going to have to slow down. And since my ship won't be needed for this, and we will have ten ships full of pissed off vampires chasing us, I'd say that you would need a little distraction. How's that for you, logical enough?"

Soval was stunned. It was the first instance that he had not only been out gunned by an Andorian, but that he had seen Andorian use logic so stunningly. "Very well, just don't get yourself killed. I intend to get you a drink after all this is done."  
"Why, I didn't know you drank Ambassador."

"And I didn't know that you were so self-sacrificing." Soval said with a new respect for the Andorian.

"Hey, we get through this, I'm inviting the both of you to my bachelor party to get plastered, and that will be an order!" Archer knew that he was interrupting, but his ship was beginning to run out of time, and they would need to do this soon.

"Let's do this."

* * *

"Admiral Forest, I must protest your actions, they are not in accordance to any of the international treaties which you agreed to uphold when you took your position as head of Starfleet."

"Excuse me, Mr. President, but that is a total load of bullshit and you know it." Admiral Forest was sick and tired of using the gloves on these poli-chickens and now the gloves came off. "While it is true that those treaties are the ones which created the United Earth government, they didn't create Starfleet. My sole responsibility is to the protection and survival of mankind, which I cannot do on Earth because you assholes are deciding to have a small war!"

Before they could get in a word edgewise he continued. "Let me tell you something. I have a captain out there right now that I have lost contact with. Whatever it was that he is investigated scared the living shit out of the Vulcans AND the Andorians enough for those two species to send six ships each to meet with and upgrade the Enterprise. I have not heard from Captain Archer in almost 70 hours, and you tell me that the worst of my problems are on the surface of the Earth! TO HELL WITH EARTH, I AM MORE CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT COULD BE COMING FROM BEYOND PLUTO!" At this, he threw his PADD containing the complaints of the replacement world leaders. "And let me get something else straight with you. You….morons are so selfish to think that the fucking universe revolves around your fucking balls!" The leaders were noticeably upset at this, but it was true, there was not a woman among them.

"You are going to wake up one day to find that the rest of the world doesn't give fuck about you, and then you are going to see just how strong humanity can be when it doesn't listen to you fucking morons." With that, Forest cut the transmission and hit the intercom for his aide.

"Yes Sir?"

* * *

"Are the defensive positions ready?"

"They are sir. Sir I just had a PADD handed to me you need to look at. It's from CAPTAIN ARCHER!" She busted through his office door and handed him the PADD.

It took him a second to get the meaning of the report. "Oh God." This was worse than he thought. "Tell the Intrepid that I will be ready to transport in two minutes, and that I will be taking command of all Starfleet defensive actions from her bridge. Also activate the emergency response system and activate all defensive reserves. We've just had war declared. Defcon 1 Lieutenant."

* * *

'Xena' is one of the most common names thrown around for the so called "10th Planet" which is 2003 UB313 which is some 67.6681 AU from the sun or about 10.12 Terameters. (10.12 x 1012 Meters). For the sake of my story, I will use this as a defensive outpost and research center for the Sol System. There is no mention of this in any Star Fleet canon, but seeing as how it was discovered only last year, I can see why. 


	11. Chapter 11

"Admiral on the Bridge!"

"As you were." Admiral Forest sat down in the center seat and watched the crew of the just finished Intrepid. The third vessel of the NX-class, she was a test bed for improvements on the Warp Five engine, and humanity's newest, but untested, achievement, shields.

Forest had overseen the project that had taken most of the last three years to complete. He had to keep it top secret though, since the Vulcans would have seen it as a hostile development.

"And yet they have shields twice as powerful as the ones we've just developed." Forest thought to himself. "For a 'peaceful' race, they sure are armed to the teeth."

"Admiral, were ready to depart." The helmsman brought him out of his inner thoughts.

"Take us out. Tell the fleet to move out to Xena station. Get the Verteron Array switched over to defensive actions and secure the comets into a safe trajectory. They'll have 30 minutes to do so. Get on line with all available civilian ships with a battle rating of 6c and above and tell them to report to Mars in order to defend the Array. I also want two of the StarRaptors to report there to coordinate and reinforce that battle group."

It was the first time that there would be an invasion of the system, but Admiral Forest had adapted much of what he had learned from the history books of the Third World War, and what the Vulcans had made available to him. Oddly, the angle that the invasion force was coming in on was exactly on a course for Xena Station. It was almost like they had an exact layout of the system right down to the defensive outpost positions.

--On the Bridge of Enterprise—

"Patch me through." Archer settled down in his center seat as Hoshi put him on the intra-ship and intercom communications.

"Ladies and gentlemen…" Archer looked around him, those words just didn't sound right. "My family. Today, as you all know, is the day that we find out what we can really do. We prove our worth not only as a family, but as a race.

For over a hundred years, the Vulcans kept us to our solar system. When we began our journey, I believed that to be a mistake, but over time, I have come to realize that that was the right thing to do. As we have seen these last few years, there are many dangers outside our front doorstep.

But now, those dangers want to break into our home, and pillage it. And after that, mankind won't be able to rebuild like we did after the Third World War, no. We will become their food source. I know that isn't something anyone wants—"

"Damn straight!" Came Trip's shout over the intercom.

"Amen to that!" Reed from the Armory.

"As I was saying," Archer couldn't help but let a chuckle escape. Trip and Reed, the odd couple uncles. "There is not one of you among this crew that would not be affected by this. We are talking total obliteration from Earth. Our homes, our families, our hopes, our dreams, all of them, gone. Well I for one am not willing to let that happen. I for one will fight until they take the last breath from my lungs."

"Huzza!" Reed, following his Royal Navy roots, starting cheering for the captain. Soon, everyone on the ship was doing it. It continued for a few minutes then died down

"Thank you for your enthusiasm. But I am not quite done yet. We are outnumbered. That is the truth. What is also the truth is that there is a good possibility of us not surviving this battle. Since we have a little time to spare, I am giving everyone 10 minutes. I don't care what you do with that time. Just make sure you do this: Do not let this family down. If ever there was a time that we needed to bond, this is the time. This is your father, Jonathon Archer. Ten minutes, starting……now."

He signed off the intercom, then took T'Pol's hand into his, and walked to his ready room. When they were alone, Jon let out a sob.

"Beloved, what is wrong?" T'Pol had never seen him cry.

"I just realized what I did. I talked to everyone like a father, like my father would have done. And I also realized that his ship is now all that may stand between them, and I'm going to die without being married to you."

"Hey, you listen here." T'Pol embraced him and whispered in his ear. "You are the Captain of the Enterprise, and that means you can do a wedding ceremony anywhere."

"Right as usual."

The door chimed. Jon composed himself, wiped away the last tear, and unlocked the door to a sight.

"Malcolm, Hoshi! What are you two doing here?"

"Sir, with your regards, we would like you to marry us." Malcolm saluted as he said this, being very formal.

"Captain….Dad…." Hoshi said, looking down. In the last two years since her family died in the transport accident, they had become just like her parents. "Mom, I don't want to die alone."

"First off, no one is dying alone on this ship!" Archer's words carried beyond the couple and onto the Bridge. "Second, I'd say it's about damned time you got the nerve to do something Malcolm, as much as you have been going to Trip and eyeing her! Third." Here his voice toned down. "It would be my honor, but we only have another five minutes. That isn't quite a lot of time to plan a wedding."

"Don't worry, we've got everything we need right here on the Bridge, don't you think?" Trip stepped forward. "A starscape on the viewscreen, plenty of witnesses, and" He zipped open his uniform to reveal his pastor costume. "an ordained minister. Being in a family of vampire killers that's on the pope's good side has its perks."

"You're just full of tricks, aren't you, Trippy?"

"Yes, sir. Though why you have to go reopening those old wounds at a time like this…"

"Times like this…" Jonathon immediately was shot back to reality. A horrible reality where the name Enterprise was the only human ship defending her home. Three ships were all that stood in front of a fleet of at least ten, and Shran's ship was pretty much counted out in this final battle, since he took a few too many hits when they had transferred the probe to Enterprise.

That left only two ships, and he wasn't even a good tactician. He had always lost games of chess and any other game where strategy was needed to win.

'Beloved, do not worry. You are forgetting that all of those games were played in two dimensions, where we have three to work with here.' T'Pol could sense her fiancée's fear, and tried her best to calm him by taking his hand into hers.

'Together and always, we will never be separated.'

'That's right.'


	12. Chapter 12

"Raise shields! Tell Shran to back his ship off to 100km of the outer perimeter of the battle and act as artillery with his torpedoes and anything else he can muster. Malcolm I want you to coordinate your attacks. We have three phase distrupter pods, do the most work with them as you can. T'Pol, keep searching for any ship that is weakest. If we can take out half of them, we may give home a chance. Trip?"

"Yes, sir."

"If it looks like this ship is about to be destroyed or overtaken by boarding parties….you know what to do."

"Don't worry, we won't let them have your father's ship. Besides, how could I sleep without the hum of these engines as my lullaby?" Trip had to smirk at himself. 'You are about to bite the big one, and your joking about not being able to rest in peace…Just hope my great-grandfather isn't watching.'

"Hoshi, keep trying to get a message to home. Try reaching Xena Station, I'd think that that would be the place for them to mass the Emergency Defense Fleet. If you get them, give them our current location and tell them that they must stay out of transporter range of the enemy."

"Yes, sir!" Hoshi looked across the bridge to her husband of all of six minutes now. 'I will not fail. I won't let these bloodsuckers rob me of my honeymoon.'

"Helm, bring us about, and drop us out of warp. Tell the Vulcans to engage the targets on the opposite side of us. That way we can each take half of them."

On the screen, the stars faded back to their points and the enemy soon loomed over them.

"Sir, we are being hailed."

"Accept text only and display on the screen, cite problems with our communcations array." Archer had to smile. Anything he could do to buy even a few minutes would allow the Earth's defenses to become that much stronger. 'Maybe if we are lucky, the Vulcans and Andorians might be able to get a few ships in on the fun.'

The starscape was replaced with the text that shocked him:

"Captain Jonathon Archer of the Starship Enterprise. You are hereby ordered to stand down disable your weapons and prepare to be boarded. Your crew will become part of our species and your ship will be turned against your homeworld. You are vastly outnumbered and outgunned. You have 30 seconds to comply or we will open fire."

"Those assholes will not lay another finger on our vessel. We have fought too long and too hard to just give her up so that she can be used to conquer. To the Enterprise!" Captain Jonathon Archer threw his hand into the air and gave the command.

"All head ¾ impulse, dead ahead. Malcolm, focus the forward disrupters on that big bastard ahead of us. Fire the stern disrupter on her as we pass by and then begin your firing procedure." The ship shuddered slightly at the force of her impulse engines enaging, and soon she was in the midst of the enemy fleet. "Keep her steady. Keep her steady. NOW!!! Turn the ship along it's x-axis, do one rotation every 10 seconds. Malcolm, fire at will. If you see a ship that is about to bite the big one, fire a torpedo to make sure and move your targets ahead. Trip—"

"Dr. Phlox reporting to the Bridge for duty." Phlox rushed onto the bridge carrying his medical kit.

"Doc, aren't you needed in Sick Bay?"

"Not when every patient demanded a duty post after your little speech. Besides, most of the medical crews from the ships we took refuges from were intact. We have more than enough medical teams. My post, is the bridge. I said when I came on board that I valued this post as a chance to view human nature. Now, I am want to defend their right to exist.

"Doctor…." Jon didn't know what to say. But he was shaken out of his stupor when three ships all fired on Enterprise simultaneously, making the bridge buck underneath him. "Return fire! What's the damage?"

"Sheilds are taking the brunt of the fire. They are down to 78 of their initial setting."

"Captain, it seems that we are more outnumbered than we thought." T'Pol brought up on the screen the view from the longest range optical scanner. There were at least 50 ships coming in. All looked like giant spheres.  
"Sphere-builders? I thought they were destroyed."

"The design is similar, but they are far weaker vessels."

"Still, 50 more ships like these, and we won't be able to hold them off for too long."

"How long till they get here?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Then, let's do what we can, then when they get here, I will…"

Everyone looked at him, knowing what the next words would be.

"….I will blow up the Enterprise."

.On Board the Intrepid.

The Vulcans were sending seven ships, the Andorians twelve, even the Klingons were sending what they had in the area, which was two ships. "Hell of a way to fight. I don't know whats coming or what I will have when they will get here. What's worse, if they are cloaked, they could already be here, just analyzing us to determine our weaknesses."

It wasn't like there would be much to analyze. Apart from Intrepid, no other ship had shields. Columbia was the next powerful, since she was slightly modified with heavier weaponry, but beyond that, there really wasn't much that could be done outside of lobbing torpedoes at the invaders.

And that was his plan. If they attacked, he would simply order the fleet to continuously retreat and fire as they could until they reached the Verteron Array. If it failed to destroy all of them, well….

He shook his head. 'This isn't the time to think about that Forest. You need to get a hold of yourself. If Jon is dead, then you are all that stands between them and those, whatever they were.' He had told off the world leaders, who were even now trying to get his head on a silver plate. "Those morons. I told them what is happening and they could only think about the impact of me moving StarFleet to the Moon."

"Sir, for what it matters, I think you are doing the right thing."

"Hear Hear!"

"Did I say that out aloud?" He caught himself, adjusted the zipper on his jumpsuit. "Just because you think it is right, doesn't change what we need to do here now. We—"

"Admiral! One of Xena Station's long range satillites is detecting a battle!"

"Where!?" Forest jumped from his seat and moved over to the communications station.

"1.5 light-years out."

"Take us there."

"Sir?"

"Just do it. Put the pedal to the metal and get this ship moving! One of our ships is out there, and I am not about to let it die alone, got it!"  
"Yes sir!" The bridge crew chimed.

'Hold on Jon, I'm coming. I'm bringing the fleet and a surprise with me.'


	13. Chapter 13

"Shields down to 20%! Warp Stabilizers are down, but the containment units are working fine. " Trip worriedly looked down to Archer, who had a gash on his head from when the view screen had been blown out. Phlox was hurriedly attending to poor Mayweather who had taken the brunt of the blast, trying not to be in the way of Archer as he took the helm of the ship. Enterprise per her namesake was not letting the enemy have it easy. Several of the enemy spheres had been disabled or driven off. The vanguard having been given a bloody nose. Hopefully it would buy the time needed to make their deaths worth it.

Worth saving the Earth from them.

"Captain! Enterprise wasn't built like a fighter craft!" Trip and T'Pol looked at each other as Hoshi screamed. "I can hear the hull-plating buckling from the stress already."

Archer chose not to respond. He was pushing the ship hard, harder than she had been rated for, but that had been in peace. Which this wasn't.

Archer was on the front line of a war.

Anyone watching the battle would have described Archer's flying erratic and random. They would also tell you that it was likely the only thing that had allowed the little Earth ship to survive this long.

Archer felt another barrage of hits. 'Dammit! Thought I had gotten past those.' He heard the damage. The main impulse engine regulator relays were damaged, leaving him with 50% engine power. The shields were down, and the hull had been breached in the shuttle bay, no one was down there so thank God for small favors. "Trip, I think its about time we dug down deep and gave it all we got don't you?" It was a reference that he'd set up long ago in case the ship had been taken over again. It was the order to destroy the ship after passing in close to the enemy.

"Captain, I forgot to tell you that I just told that one of the Vulcans has finished that special batch of nanobots you wanted. Though why you'd want a bunch of nanobots who would emit high levels of UV radiation on a self-discriminating frequency I wouldn't know." Phlox was at the door to the turbo lift when another volley hit, making sparks fly from the Captain's chair, noticeably vacant.

"Get them down to the transporter room and tell the tech to be ready to send them over to the ships we can beam them over to them as he sees openings. We only get one shot at it."

Phlox wanted to express his concern over his refusal of medical treatment, but Archer had already turned back to the helm, blocking everything that was not important to this battle out. His exit was marked by another barrage, this one landing in the crew quarters area of C deck, 10 refugees dead.

* * *

Archer would weep later. If there was a later. He flew through the enemy fleet once more, this time depositing a little present in each one .

The nanobots were programmed with two functions. The first was a simple replication protocol. Every two minutes each nanobot would duplicate itself, a process taking a minute given the right amount of materials. The second function was to scan the host, and fire a concentrated ray of UV radiation into the nervous system of it, causing overall decay and hopefully death.

These functions worked well. Their deployment via the air was effective enough to kill 97% of those who were on board the vessel.

The 3% who were left, or rather the one woman, were able to have their immune system interface with the nanobots. The secondary nanobot protocol was changed. Instead of emitting ultraviolet radiation, it now followed the immune system's main directive: to attack and destroy damaged cells, and help replace damaged cells quickly by protecting them during their growing phase.

* * *

She had adapted.

Admiral Forest was 15 minutes out, the pedal on the Columbia's engines not just to the metal, but to the deck plating on the deck below. It was likely the new ship would need to be towed back by the Vulcans after this, but he didn't care. As long as he got there in time the whole damn fleet could be towed for all he cared. The other reinforcements were only seconds behind, similarly pushing themselves hard.

When he had moved the fleet out the outcry from the Earth government had become an avalanche. He had gotten them to shut up (and likely gotten them to decide his early retirement) when he had told them they should be thankful he wasn't heading towards them with weapons armed.

'Hold on, just a little longer...' Forest quietly cheered. They had Enterprise on the long-range scanners, and she was giving them hell.

It was likely fortunate for him he did not have the enemy fleet of 50 spheres in range, or else he'd have realized that the fight was just beginning.


	14. Chapter 14

"Shields down to 20%! Warp Stabilizers are down, but the containment units are working fine. " Trip worriedly looked down to Archer, who had a gash on his head from when the view screen had been blown out. Phlox was hurriedly attending to poor Mayweather who had taken the brunt of the blast, trying not to be in the way of Archer as he took the helm of the ship. Enterprise per her namesake was not letting the enemy have it easy. Several of the enemy spheres had been disabled or driven off. The vanguard having been given a bloody nose. Hopefully it would buy the time needed to make their deaths worth it.

Worth saving the Earth from them.

"Captain! Enterprise wasn't built like a fighter craft!" Trip and T'Pol looked at each other as Hoshi screamed. "I can hear the hull-plating buckling from the stress already."

Archer chose not to respond. He was pushing the ship hard, harder than she had been rated for, but that had been in peace. Which this wasn't.

Archer was on the front line of a war.

Anyone watching the battle would have described Archer's flying erratic and random. They would also tell you that it was likely the only thing that had allowed the little Earth ship to survive this long.

Archer felt another barrage of hits. 'Dammit! Thought I had gotten past those.' He heard the damage. The main impulse engine regulator relays were damaged, leaving him with 50% engine power. The shields were down, and the hull had been breached in the shuttle bay, no one was down there so thank God for small favors. "Trip, I think its about time we dug down deep and gave it all we got don't you?" It was a reference that he'd set up long ago in case the ship had been taken over again. It was the order to destroy the ship after passing in close to the enemy.

"Captain, I forgot to tell you that I just told that one of the Vulcans has finished that special batch of nanobots you wanted. Though why you'd want a bunch of nanobots who would emit high levels of UV radiation on a self-discriminating frequency I wouldn't know." Phlox was at the door to the turbo lift when another volley hit, making sparks fly from the Captain's chair, noticeably vacant.

"Get them down to the transporter room and tell the tech to be ready to send them over to the ships we can beam them over to them as he sees openings. We only get one shot at it."

Phlox wanted to express his concern over his refusal of medical treatment, but Archer had already turned back to the helm, blocking everything that was not important to this battle out. His exit was marked by another barrage, this one landing in the crew quarters area of C deck, 10 refugees dead.

* * *

Archer would weep later. If there was a later. He flew through the enemy fleet once more, this time depositing a little present in each one .

The nanobots were programmed with two functions. The first was a simple replication protocol. Every two minutes each nanobot would duplicate itself, a process taking a minute given the right amount of materials. The second function was to scan the host, and fire a concentrated ray of UV radiation into the nervous system of it, causing overall decay and hopefully death.

These functions worked well. Their deployment via the air was effective enough to kill 97% of those who were on board the vessel.

The 3% who were left, or rather the one woman, were able to have their immune system interface with the nanobots. The secondary nanobot protocol was changed. Instead of emitting ultraviolet radiation, it now followed the immune system's main directive: to attack and destroy damaged cells, and help replace damaged cells quickly by protecting them during their growing phase.

* * *

She had adapted.

Admiral Forest was 15 minutes out, the pedal on the Columbia's engines not just to the metal, but to the deck plating on the deck below. It was likely the new ship would need to be towed back by the Vulcans after this, but he didn't care. As long as he got there in time the whole damn fleet could be towed for all he cared. The other reinforcements were only seconds behind, similarly pushing themselves hard.

When he had moved the fleet out the outcry from the Earth government had become an avalanche. He had gotten them to shut up (and likely gotten them to decide his early retirement) when he had told them they should be thankful he wasn't heading towards them with weapons armed.

'Hold on, just a little longer...' Forest quietly cheered. They had Enterprise on the long-range scanners, and she was giving them hell.

It was likely fortunate for him he did not have the enemy fleet of 50 spheres in range, or else he'd have realized that the fight was just beginning.


	15. Chapter 15

"Darn synthesizer, can't even make a good meat pie." The little alien scrambled to pick up the small pie from its receptacle as his shuttle rushed along. It was a slow vessel, only capable of warp 3.5 on a good day, and today was one of the worst, a measly 1.2 registering on the console.

"Looks like I may not make it to Dynox II for 3 cycles yet. Better let them know." He started pulling up the communications array to align it for contacting the trade planet when the sensor pad behind him bleeped its warning. "Now what?"

Turning around he saw a spatial disturbance. It was small but he would need to make a small correction to make sure his ship didn't have to drop out of warp to pass through it. This delay would cost him another half a cycle. "I don't think my buyer is going to be awfully understanding about this. That's odd..." Though obsolete, the sensors had once belonged on a scientific cruiser from the Lynix, one of the most sophisticated civilizations in this area of the Delta Quadrant. It showed that the anomaly was increasing in size, and that space-time was warping.

It was showing signs of a wormhole.

"Well, aren't I lucky? Someone will pay a fortune for these sensor readings. Maybe I can stick around just a little while longer..." He informed his buyer that he'd be a day late due to the incident, giving him some time to gather the precious data. "Maybe I'll be able to fix the synthesizer after all." The pie looked bad, but at least it didn't taste as bad.

* * *

Might not be that bad of a cycle after all.

Forest hailed Enterprise, hoping he'd get through.

Hoshi answered with the sound of a frantic crew behind her. "Sir, bout time you got here, the Captain has been waiting for you." Without saying anything else she patched him to the helm, letting Archer have control of the situation.

"Archer, tell me you haven't thought about doing anything stupid yet."

"Oh, I've had thoughts." Archer kept his answer short as he had to focus and avoid three salvos from the spheres. "Took your asses long enough. What'd you have to do, blow up the UE building?"

'Tempted...' Forest didn't want to let his feelings be displayed like that. "No, but I probably won't be welcomed back. We've got the defense forces inbound."

"Tell them to keep their distance. These vampire-beings will beam aboard any unprotected ship. I've already have them on several decks since our shields started to fail." Archer saw Enterprise's cannons strike a finishing blow to another sphere. He had to suppress a yelp of joy as it exploded and heavily damaged another one that had been near it.

"All right you heard the man. Raise shields, bring all weapons to bear and give orders out for those who don't have shields to remain at long distance and fire on anything they can. How long until our other reinforcements get here?"

"The Vulcans are five minutes, Andorians six, and I can't get a hold of the Klingons."

"Tell them that if they don't get their asses in gear they are going to miss the fight of a lifetime and the honor will be all ours." Forest thought that would get them to pour on the speed. "How about Xena Station? Are they ready?"

"Yes sir, the Verteron Relay Station is on standby for coordinates." Forest smirked as he gave the order to target the enemy fleet.

* * *

"If they want to target our blood so bad, I think it's only fair we make them pay for every drop. Tell Enterprise to be ready to back off."

"A Verteron Beam? But its range is only out to the edge of the Oort cloud, we are far beyond..." Archer listened as the Xena Relay Station was explained to him. "Well I'll be a son of a bitch."

Archer turned the ship around and disengaged. The enemy decided to wait for their comrades and stayed where they were. Enterprise was bruised, beaten, and leaking plasma, but she was limping from the battle.

They were still alive.

He avoided the friendly artillery fire by moving through it and changing his course every few seconds so as to keep him from giving away everyone's defense position. Everyone let go of the breath they'd been holding. Andorian, Vulcan, and Human all were helping each other repair what they could, rescue their fellow beings, and beat back the intruders that still struggled their way through the ship.

* * *

Not one of them at this point thought of themselves as outsiders to the others, but instead they were one crew, one people, and one society.

On Mars, the Verteron array charged to full power and aimed for the reflector on the small dwarf planet over 94 AU away. This of course was not what the array was meant to do, but the workers had performed miracles in such a short time.

This shot would likely cause the array to have to cool for over half an hour, but at this setting should destroy any ships it touched even at the ranges it was firing at. The bad part normally would have been that the beam would have taken weeks just to reach Xena Station. The Vulcans had supplied the innovation to solve this by creating a temporary tear just above the array which led out to the station, the tear was only able to allow energy to travel through, and so the ship that was opening the tear was essentially abandoned from the battle. Supposedly there was another Vulcan vessel over Xena now prepping to create another tear to take the beam all the way to the fleet.

* * *

One of the workers wondered out loud why they needed to fire on Xena at all. Their supervisor explained this simply that Xena would expand the diameter of the beam to the point it resembled a wave, therefore able to hit more ships. He then gave the order to fire once all of the lights turned green

The Enterprise would spend months in dry-dock before being able to even travel about Sol under impulse, let alone go to warp. More than likely she'd be retired and scrapped in favor of a newer model. 'Never be the same though…' Archer thought as he surveyed the bridge finally, letting the pent up fear and adrenaline wash over him as they crossed the front line of the forming armada. By no means were they safe, but he could allow himself time to breathe and act as captain of his ship…what was left of it.

The only untouched panels seemed to be by tactical; Reed's trained calm must have spread out through the systems. Amazingly they still had all of their offensive capabilities, but couldn't take much more in terms of hits. Hoshi sat dazed as she heard the ship moan and groan. T'Pol had one arm in a sling and was being helped by one of the crewman coordinate the repairs.

"Hoshi." Archer walked over on unsteady legs and touched her shoulder, bringing her out of her fear filled world. "Are you going to be alright?" He got a nod from the Ensign. "Good. Patch me through to the Admiral please, on the main…in my ready room."

"Your ready room is without power." T'Pol wheezed softly as the crewman bumped into her arm. Even with the medicine Phlox had given her the arm still hurt a great deal, having only been given enough treatment to keep her in active working order, and not set and dealt with as it should have been. "Please, use my station." She stood up and looked like she was about to fall over.

"Report to sickbay and get checked out." He got a look from her. "I'll be down myself right after I get done." Archer moved over to the now vacated station and picked up the headpiece for private communications and nodded to Hoshi after T'Pol disappeared in the turbo lift.

"Admiral…"

"Let's cut the crap today John. You've earned it."

"You don't need to tell me twice sir. Why are we holding back?"

"A little surprise is on its way from Mars John."

"They have reinforcements coming in as well." He looked at the station's sensors. "About 2 minutes out as far as I can tell."

"I know. We picked them up as well." Archer heard him giving an order but couldn't make out what it was. "Just stand back and let this do its job. Tell everyone thank you. Even though that isn't even going to start repaying them for the work they've done."

"I will sir. If you don't mind I need to go visit sickbay. Mr. Reed will be in command while I am away. Can I ask you a question sir?"

"You can ask anything of anyone at this point I'd say."

"Did I just lose my command?"

"No John, you might be shacked up for a while, but I'll personally see to it you don't lose her." With that Forrest signed off and returned to readying for the next phase of the battle. Archer was led off by a medical aide after he nodded to Reed, who in turn looked over what he'd been given command of and could only think:

"God help anyone that comes across a ship named Enterprise."

The Verteron Beam hit Xena Station at 94.3% of its initial output. This was a higher than expected value and the engineers and scientists noted this for future research. Even the Vulcans were amazed that what they were doing worked so well, though of course "amazement" was best intoned by one with a deadpan "Fascinating."

Timing in battle is always an element that has a large dose of luck involved. This time luck favored the armada in defense as their enemy's reinforcements dropped out of warp and took positions alongside their battered brethren and began to move forward just as the beam, now wave, exited the final tear. To say the effects of such a thing were devastating would be an understatement. Out of 57 ships, only 2 were left.

And these 2 were disabled.

Archer received the news and rushed to the bridge, forgetting his earlier injury. As he arrived, a loud roar of cheering erupted. Even the Vulcans let slip bits of emotions as the tangible pressure that had pressed down on all of them the last few days suddenly was relieved. It is even rumored that an Andorian kissed one of the Vulcans, but since no picture was taken this is still just rumor.

The image that everyone on the bridge soon burned into their eyes was one Jonathon Archer, crying as he sat on the remains of his captain's chair. "Thank you Dad. She's a great ship." He couldn't hold them back anymore. He cried for the dead in his own crew and the ones he had been forced to murder. He cried for the pain and agony those in sickbay were suffering. He cried for everyone on the ship that couldn't.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" A figure flashed onto the bridge, a towel around her body and another around her head, a hole burned through it and still smoldering. "WHO THE HELL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT BEAM BURNING THROUGH MY SHOWER!" Everyone on the bridge was shocked and stunned silent. The figure peered at Archer for a moment. "Human…who is familiar with your species…oh yes…" She turned around and yelled at the top of her lungs. "Q!"

"You rang?"

"You have got to be joking. You were not at that battle because it never happened. Stop telling me fairy tales."

"Sorry Jean-Luc, but you told me to tell you about the origins of them and I told you I wouldn't until you were on your deathbed, so here I am keeping a promise. You shouldn't be aggravating me so much. A promise from a Q is a very precious thing. I think I'm the only one to make one to a lower life form in…well…at least a few eons."

"Q. This is your pet species what the hell are they doing with technology that rips into the Continuum?" She started tapping her foot against the deck plating as she watched the man snap his fingers trying to get away. "Oh no trickster, you are answering for this one. You've been fiddling around in their development haven't you? Been leading them to go in ways they aren't supposed to…in ways they shouldn't for almost a millennium. I'll see you punished for this. Maybe the others would lock you away for a while and keep you from peeping on me."

"Now that's unfair! I have never been caught, therefore how can you accuse me of that."

"Stop sidetracking! You have been fiddling around with these lower beings, so fix it or I swear you will not like what happens."

"Yes yes…but only because these fine people—"

"NOW!"

With a snap of his fingers the disabled ships disappeared and things were changed dramatically.

The spatial warping had now become a full tear as two ships drifted out of it. They were disabled and showed no life signs. "My cycle just hit the jackpot!" He took his ship in closer for inspection and was surprised when life forms suddenly appeared on his bridge as a hum faded away behind them.

"You will be assimilated." The female bit into the alien's neck, inserting the small nanobots through her fangs.

"So that is it? You are responsible for the Borg?" Picard stared up as the Q shrugged.

"More or less. Who'd have thought that they would live? I was just sweeping them under the rug hoping the continuum would leave me alone. Instead they made me a nice little prison until I promised not to interfere so directly in your development. That and I had to wait for the pre-arranged time for me to make the initial bridging of contact between us. Formal first contact in your terms is still millennia away."

"You are responsible for the Borg…" Picard couldn't get this thought off of his mind. Though his illness had rotted away his brain and taken from him most of his sanity, this burned through it all and in one last shining of fire Q felt the old man's hands close around his neck.

"So after all this time. It took that story to get you to be violent to me." Q chuckled as Picard let go and sat back down on his bed, exhausted by even this level of physicality. "I wish I would have known, I might have told you sooner."

"Q…come here." Picard motioned for the being to lean down as he felt his life leaving him.

"Oh, you want me to help you to hurt me is that it?" Picard shook his head.

"I….forgive…you…" With that, Picard's eyes closed and the biobed registered that the old man's artificial heart had given out.

"No one has ever said that…" Q looked down. "Maybe this was the better path for your species…." For the first time since he'd started toying with what he'd come to think of as his personal pet, Q took a moment and acknowledged that had they met in different circumstances, Q could have come to call him friend even despite the vast differences in their existences. At this time though there was nothing more he could do even if he wanted, for the continuum wanted the man dead for finding out what Q had just told him. It was one of the most closely kept secrets just below one other: the Borg had partially assimilated a Q, and had made themselves invulnerable to them as far as their destruction.

Of all the things they could do, there was only one thing they couldn't do, and that was remove those that targeted the blood of mortals to make them part of their own continuum. For a race of beings priding themselves on their superiority, this was the most damaging fact that could ever be recognized.

But that wasn't Q's problem. He had a new captain to toy with. The Enterprise-G had just left space dock, and he wanted to go see who was in the Captain's chair.

"Sometimes it sucks to be a Q." Q looked down at Picard's body. "Don't tell anyone I said that." He chuckled as he snapped his fingers.


	16. Epilogue

Herold of Light: Long time, not write. I apologize to everyone over the years. I have gotten many comments to finish this story, and I have had chapters sitting in my deep storage waiting, but life never allowed me to do what was needed. I have even had the idea of where I wanted the story to end, though over time this has faded so obviously the ending is not as powerful as I wanted it to be. I am making my notes here instead of the other chapters to reflect this and apologize to anyone I may disappoint.

I wrote this story having watched Enterprise seasons 1 and part of 3. I had everything planned out before I saw the last episode or even the rest of the series. I always felt that Q should have made an appearance somehow, and I felt this would have been the best way since how do you phone a being on a higher plane of existence that you dont' know about? You blast a focused particle beam through their shower.

I know some won't like the thought of Picard dying. To me though, it brought a closure with Picard not seen and answers a question in my mind as to why the Q simply didn't just wave away the Borg if they were being such a nuisance for the "protectors of existence." This is a little self-indulgence on my part, which I tried to tie in with how his life would likely have turned out given "All Good Things..."

Thank you for your patience once more. Sorry if you are offended or don't like the ending, but it was what I had always planned, and isn't rushed any more than can be helped as a victim of time. Bon Voyage everyone :)

* * *

Epilogue

Archer looked out across the star field in front of him on the view screen. One of the most relaxing places in the world was right here. Since becoming captain he would take the time to come and just sit in his chair whenever he thought of his father. "Dad…it's another day." He whispered as he stood up and hobbled back to his quarters.

They had just left a planet where he'd slipped on a muddy slope and broken his leg. Phlox told him he should be on light duty for the next few days which was ok with him. Something felt off anyway so he took the time to roam around his ship and looked over his crew.

"What's up with him?" Trip asked T'Pol as their mutual friend left the bridge.

"I think he is having memories of his father." T'Pol quietly said back. "Maybe you should go talk to him."

"I might do that. I'll have to skip dinner though."

"Go ahead. We can meet together tomorrow for lunch to discuss the wedding ceremony."

"Still a shocker to me that you and I are finally getting hitched." He chuckled.

"Would you rather I be marrying the Captain?"

"I didn't say that! I'm very happy to be your husband. It's just that if you had told me when we started our trek you and I would get married, I'd have probably told you to go see Phlox and get your brain checked out."

"I would have had to have killed you." Trip looked over to T'Pol with a shocked expression. She merely shrugged and went back to work. The problem for Trip now was figuring out of she meant it as a joke or was serious.

The problem with her was that she'd become equally able to do both in the same tone of voice.

"Ok….let me just get that polo match off the comm line and I'll just…um…meet you later…. for lunch. Where no murder would be involved." He nervously gathered his tools as he'd finished his repair work.

Another day on Enterprise…


End file.
